Crossroads
by solieabouteverything
Summary: Luke stared down at the ground as he reassured himself: Monsters aren't real. They're just a part of your insane imagination. Don't believe the hallucinations. Don't end up like Mom... Luke POV from age 9 to TLO (Staying true to the book)
1. The Beginning

**I have to stop writing new stories when I have a million unfinished drafts for the next chapters of stories I've already got. LOL**

 **But yeah, I don't own Percy Jackson. That series is too amazing for me to even dream about thinking up of.**

* * *

The Westport Metro-North Railroad station was busy.

People hurried about, bumping into each other and shuffling through the station to get to their ticket. Luke shifted to the side to avoid being run over by a tall man in a suit, muttering about stocks into his phone. He shifted his backpack; it was filled to the seams with two sets of clothes, a few bags of chips, and a single peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a Tupperware container. The front pocket held his Ziploc of those weird healing lemon squares and about twelve dollars in coins.

Luke felt tiny.

The nine-years-old hurried onto the shortest ticket booth line he saw and waited. He shifted uncomfortably, aware that any one of these "people" in this crowded station could easily turn out to be a monster in disguise. As he waited on line, he poked his tongue into the 2 gaps in his top teeth, where they had fallen out in a fight at school. Finally, it was his turn.

"Excuse me," Luke peered over the edge of the ticket booth. Inside was a stern looking woman with her hair in a bun and grey eyes. "Miss, how much is a ticket to New York?"

The woman adjusted her glasses, "Are you alone?"

Luke shook his head, "Dad's in the bathroom."

The woman's eyes squinted at Luke before turning towards her computer. Luke heard the telltale clicks of the mouse scrolling and waited with bated breath.

"Twenty-seven dollars."

The blond visibly deflated, shoulders sagging and head turned down. "Never mind," he muttered. "I'll wait for Dad."

Luke meandered towards the crowd, shuffling his feet as he went. He wondered what his class would be doing. They were in the third grade, and had just learned their multiplication tables. Mrs. Angelidis was reading _James and the Giant Peach_. He would never find out if James and his friend survived the Cloud-men.

He bumped into the same man in the suit, falling down on his rear end painfully. The man, still on his phone, paused and glanced at the boy before hurrying off.

Luke didn't feel guilty about taking the man's ticket.

At 10:32 AM, Luke was aboard the Northeast Regional 137, heading towards Penn Station. His backpack was finally off, sitting on the empty chair next to him. He took out the Tupperware, eyeing the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The boy sighed, a sound much too old for his age, and took a bite of the sandwich. Memories of wind-chimes, lemonade, and picnics filtered through his mind as he angrily ignored them.

But he couldn't ease the nagging worry in his mind. _Mom would be okay without me. Right?_


	2. Realizations

**Heyya! I hope you like this thus far. The way I see it, Luke doesn't know or believe he's a demigod, so at this age, he just thinks he's crazy like his mom. Follow for more and make sure to check out my other story, Riding the Chariot. :)**

* * *

Two hours and 34 minutes.

That's how long the train ride from Westport Connecticut to New York City took.

But Luke should've known better than to assume he could safely board a train filled with _normal_ people and stay normal for those 154 minutes.

He just wanted to use the bathroom. But the closest bathroom was past the train cargo, which was dark and filled with creaky boxes. It didn't really seem that bad. (Luke was not afraid of the dark, just what hid in it.) As Luke crept forward (he's not afraid, he swore), he noticed a pretty lady with red hair braided down her back sitting on a wooden crate.

"Uhh..." Luke said unintelligibly. She was seriously pretty. "Do you know where the bathroom is, Miss?"

She turned and Luke was startled by the way her eyes seemed to glow red in the dark. Uh. That can't be good. She stood up, smoothing her dress down. Luke stared down at the ground as he reassured himself, _monster's aren't real. They're just a part of your insane imagination. Don't believe the hallucinations. Don't end up like Mom._ And just like that, _something_ slid into place and her eyes were a pretty non-glowing brown.

Yeah, it was probably the exit sign from the other end of the car.

"Of course, you cute little thing!" The lady said. "Why don't you follow me there? I was on my way."

Luke was pretty sure he didn't have a choice; he nodded.

She smiled, a little too broadly for Luke to be comfortable. Her teeth were really bright somehow in the dark. Like she was trying to flirt with him or something. Who would want to flirt with a nine year old? Ew. Sometimes, the police officer at school would come in and talk about pedophiles; Luke was pretty sure that this was the part where he _should run away._ But Luke followed numbly, trying to make his body relax. His eyes stared at the ground as they walked. There was a weird creaking and clopping noise as Luke walked alongside the lady, but Luke put it off as the sound of the train moving.

"Where's your mother, boy? Surely you're not alone on this train." The woman said conversationally. Something made Luke want to scream and run, but he pushed down the instinct. _Stop overreacting._

"Uhhh. I'm going to visit my dad. Mom said he's in New York." Luke muttered. The cargo compartment was really long.

"Oh, is that so?" Luke made the fortunate motion of looking back up at the woman, who was looking at him like something to eat. Her eyes were _definitely_ glowing red again.

"My poor little boy," the weird lady crooned. Luke cringed, _Ew_. "Why don't you come closer so we could hug? Don't you want a hug?"

Weirdly enough, it sounded appealing. Luke shook his head. _What's wrong with him right now._ "No thanks?"

The woman purred, which made Luke want to vomit. "But young boy... You would be _such a tasty meal!_ "

He ducked under the pretty red-eyed lady's swipe, stumbling backwards on top of a box. He leaped backwards, hissing as she swiped his arm. _That stung!_

"What is wrong with you!" Luke shouted at the strange lady. She laughed a bit evilly. God, he really was going crazy.

"There's nothing wrong with wanting a meal!" The lady sing-songed, taking a step forward with a large clang. Luke's eyes traveled down. _What is that?_

"OKAY! But why do you have a goat leg?" Luke yelped as he lifted up a wrapped parcel addressed to _11 W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019_ and used it as a shield for his face. He gulped as he felt her claws rip through canvas like butter. He threw the ruined painting away before jumping on top of another crate.

"It's a donkey!" The woman growled.

"What?" Luke was confused.

"I said I'm a donkey!"

"Like an ass?"

"I _will KILL you!"_ She roared before lunging at him. Luke grabbed the nearest parcel, a white packet covered with the name _Micheals_ in red, and threw it at her. It exploded into a cloud of glitter.

 _Thank you Micheal._ Luke silently prayed. Hey, if his mom was okay praying to his dad like a god, Luke was sure it was okay to pray to Micheal like he was one too.

The weird monster growled, her eyes shut against the glitter covering her from head to toe. Luke silently stepped towards a bin filled with PVC pipes, keeping his eye on the wheezing goat-robot-woman. She stood up, eye's closed but nose flaring and turned towards him. The lady's lips curled up into a sneer.

The monster lunged; Luke said one of those words he heard some teenagers say earlier. The ones that sounded bad. Luke gripped the pole like a bat and swung.

There was a clang, and Luke stared at the heap of groaning goat-woman on the ground. His pole was now shaped more like a hockey stick.

She groaned, getting up slowly. Jesus, she didn't know when to stop. Luke kept his eyes trained on her leg. He knew that it was harder to take his eye away from the pretty lady when he was looking at her face, but the weird mixture of a metal leg and donkey leg made it easier to remember she was a monster. His backpack made it uncomfortable to move quickly, but Luke was determined to keep this short. He _really_ needed to pee.

The monster woman thing got up and Luke ran past her into the next train. Ignoring the bathroom despite his bladder's protest, he ran into the next car, and the car after that. He heard the clanging of the metal leg right behind him as he shot forward with a burst of speed. He could see the last door, metal bolt. He hurried forward and swung it forward with all his strength. He turned just to catch the sight of the ginger.

Luke slammed the door closed on her face. He heard the splat of her face on the window and stared in horror. The crazy woman slid to the ground with more clanging.

He opened the door slowly, peeking around the edges. She really did look unconscious. Luke gulped.

 _What should I do?_ Luke wondered as a feeling of dread curled up in his stomach.

Slowly, cautiously, he grabbed her shirt and dragged her outside. The wind blew his hair everywhere but he unceremoniously pushed her off the back of the train.

She tumbled onto the tracks, still unconscious. Her hair fell out of her braid. Luke felt nauseous. He probably just killed that ginger. But his hallucinations felt _so real_ and he just wanted to feel _safe_ just in case. He bit his bottom lip as the wind blew his face everywhere. Maybe he was crazy, like mom. Maybe he'd be just like her in a few years.

Maybe he'd be worse.

 _I'm probably crazier than Mom,_ Luke came to a realization. _Mom didn't kill anyone. What if I tried to kill Mom a few years from now?_

 _I'm a murderer._ Luke thought as he carefully wrapped the cleaned cut on his arm with a roll of toilet paper. _I killed that girl._

He swallowed the invisible pebble in his throat and shoved the extra toilet paper in his bag, making room for it by throwing away the empty Tupperware from the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Toilet paper was an okay bandage.

The voices in his head was still running high on nerves, adrenaline from the hallucination. Luke shook the image of the pretty red-head woman out of his head. He _really_ was crazy.

 _Mom _i_ s safer without me._


End file.
